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Mr. Iserson advised that the proposed hours of operation would be 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The PUD development plan must be modified to allow the sale of beer and wine in the convenience store. The Police Department had not reported any concerns with existing convenience food markets that sell beer and wine, including the Shell station at Owens Drive and the Chevron station on Santa Rita Road. Staff added several conditions which address the sales of beer and wine at the facility, including limiting the display areas and requiring training for the mazket operators. These conditions exceed the ABC requirements with respect to operating the market in a safe and secure manner. Mr. Iserson advised that public access was adequate and that the building design was attractive and followed the Commission's direction at the work sessions. The applicant proposed as three-sided monument sign on the corner; only two sides would have sign copy on it, and the sign would be nine feet in height. He noted that the sign would be internally lighted with channel letters. Staff believed the monument sign still needed some work; while the stone background was attractive, staff would not support internal illumination except for the prices. With the exception of "Pleasanton U.S. Gas" and the logo, the other wording should be eliminated; the plastic background should be removed without internal illumination, and the sign should be mounted on an opaque panel, preferably metal with push-through or cutout letters that would be externally illuminated. Staff believed that the "Open 24 Hours" sign should be removed, and the building sign should be changed to a more subdued red color. (Staff believes the landscaping is adequate, and would complement the building architecture.) Staff required a traffic analysis and noted that it showed that several intersections in town did not `- meet the minimum Level-of-Service (LOS) D standard. He noted that such a complex issue needs to be resolved at the General Plan Update level. He noted that posed a challenge for even small projects to be approved in the City. The General Plan contained a policy designed to ensure that the street infrastructure would be constructed to keep up with new development to keep intersections at LOS D or better. He noted that at this time, staff could not make the finding that projects would be consistent with the General Plan Circulation Element if they brought even small amounts of traffic to already-congested intersections. He noted that if the General Plan consistency findings on most projects could not be made, then it would be difficult to approve most projects. He noted that a new balance must be struck between land use and traffic and either alter the land use and the policies or discover new ways of finding a balance between the two. Mr. Iserson noted that the submitted traffic study used the City's traffic model and was modified to make it perform better for this project. Most of the service station trips were pass-by trips by people already traveling on that street or were diverted trips which were linked as part of the commute. The traffic study assumed that 62 percent of the a.m. trips and 56 percent of the p.m. trips would be pass-by trips and would not show up as new trips in the intersections. The non-home-based retail trips would be slightly increased. The traffic model calculated the new levels of service as a result of this project and projects 49 new peak-hour a.m. trips and 70 new peak-hour p.m. trips, which were relatively minimal. He noted that traffic would be created that would affect intersections that were already at capacity. No mitigations were proposed because of the General Plan issues and because the use of the General Plan street network would still - produce intersections that did not meet City standards. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES . September 8, 2004 Page 4 of 14